Turmoil in Romania deepens as president is impeached

NEW YORK TIMES

July 6, 2012

BERLIN - The political crisis in Romania deepened Friday after the Parliament in Bucharest voted to impeach President Traian Basescu amid rising international criticism of the government's apparent attempts to usurp power and subvert the country's young democracy.

The impeachment was one step among many that critics say Prime Minister Victor Ponta has taken recently to consolidate his rule. The governing coalition has fired the speakers of both chambers of Parliament - an action the opposition called unconstitutional - and replaced the country's ombudsman, who has the power to challenge emergency legislation before the Constitutional Court.

The court's justices have been threatened with removal before their terms were up, although that idea was scrapped after an international outcry. But Ponta reduced the court's power and is moving ahead with the impeachment.

Called a dictator

Ponta and his left-leaning Social Liberal Union contend that Basescu has violated the constitution and accuse him of acting as a dictator, although the powers of the Romanian president are limited compared with the prime minister's. The Constitutional Court ruled Friday that Basescu had not violated the constitution, although the decision was nonbinding.

"What dictator lets the opposition have the post of prime minister?" Basescu asked in the debate leading up to the vote, which he lost decisively, with 256 members of Parliament voting to remove him and 114 voting against. In the next step, Romanian voters will decide in a nationwide referendum, planned for July 29, whether Basescu can remain in office.

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In a statement Friday, the European Commission said it was "concerned about current developments in Romania," in particular the moves to reduce the power of independent institutions like the Constitutional Court.

It is the second time that Basescu - a former sea captain, anti-corruption crusader and polarizing figure in Romanian politics - has faced a referendum to remove him from office. A similar effort in 2007 failed when 74 percent of the voters opposed the move and he remained in office.

But Basescu's association with detested austerity programs has taken a toll on his popularity, and opinion surveys show he could lose this time around. Romania's political class is divided by bitter personal rivalries and a public that has taken to the streets in sometimes destructive protests against austerity programs and stagnant growth.

In June, Ponta was accused of extensive plagiarism in his doctoral thesis, and Basescu said the effort to expel him was in part intended as a distraction.